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Kamen Rider Die watches Kamen Rider Kiva
I'm Kamen Rider Die, and this is a thread where I'm going to watch Kamen Rider Kiva for the first time and share my experiences and impressions. Thanks for checking it out!
Now, I've been doing these threads for a little while, in case you haven't checked one out before. Started with Ghost at the end of 2019, and then did Build, Kuuga, Agito, Ryuki, Faiz, Blade, Hibiki, and Kabuto. Just wrapped up Den-O's TV run a few weeks ago, so it's onto Kiva. On that topic, there's only one thing I know about Kiva (other than Vampires and Problematic, but those are both hearsay for me at this point) and it's that it's written by Toshiki Inoue, a writer I've become obsessed with. Is obsessed too strong a word? Possibly. Maybe! It's not something I'd normally admit, obsession, but we're all friends here, right? I'm pretty obsessed with his work. There's a catchphrase that I have, to show my devotion, and I'm sure you'll be hearing it a lot over the course of this thread. I'm trying to keep things relatively chill on the introductory post (I want you to feel comfortable enough before I really get weird), but maybe I'll drop it in by the end of this post. Keep your eyes open! Uh, so, yeah, Inoue! There's a lot about his writing I've enjoyed. There's a playfulness, a tendency to approach stories from odd angles, a wealth of fascinatingly complex characters, and some exciting story turns. The biggest thing, though, is that I always feel like Inoue's stories are about something. There's something he's trying to communicate through the dialect of Toku, and it always gives me more to think about than just the plot and the dialogue. There're themes to his stories that just, like, trigger something in my brain, and I can't stop talking about them. More than maybe any other Phase 1 creator, he's my guy. Except, I know he's not most people's guy. ...There was actually a whole paragraph here where I tried to lay out what folks don't like about Inoue, but it felt... tentative. Dishonest. I do like his stuff, so I can only imagine how my attempts to Both Sides his work would upset people. That is a thing I am trying to be aware of for the next couple months! I've definitely been far more willing to find something that resonates with me in Inoue's work than other people have, and trying that approach on this particular show feels like it could lead to some flared tempers and rancor. I really hope not! I'd love for this to be a thread where folks can disagree without it getting awkward. I don't need you to agree with me in order to post here, and I hope you'll be cool if someone disagrees with something you post. We all process art differently, and talking about it can be fun. Just, you know, always remember to be respectful of other opinions, okay? If you love Kiva and someone else doesn't, maybe try and listen to why that is. Alternatively, give folks space to enjoy the show even if it's one you dislike. I don't know. I want everyone to be friends, even if we're viewing this show in diametrically opposed ways. For real, I want us to all get along before and after this thread. In the meantime, in the during of this thread, I've got a couple three things I'd like to ask for your help with. (One big parenthetical note up-front: These are all just suggestions. I've always listed them as Rules or whatever, because they're things I want to stress at the outset. But, like, some folks ended up accidentally breaking a rule, and they took it bad, and I felt like my phrasing put them in a place where it meant more to them than it meant to me. In that spirit, while I'd appreciate your consideration on these few requests, it's not the end of the world if they're overlooked accidentally. I'll be fine, and I want you to be fine. Don't beat yourself up if you mistakenly do something in this thread I've asked you not to. As long as it's not on purpose, I won't get mad.) Real big one for me is trying to keep this thread SPOILER-FREE. Like I said up top, this is my first time going through Kiva. I prefer to come to these shows as fresh as I can. If, in the course of the discussion, we can keep things to only the episodes I've covered, I'd appreciate it. Nothing from future episodes, and no teases about where a storyline will go. (And no spoiler tags, 'cause the notification emails I get from this thread strip them out.) Just the current episode and anything before. That'd be swell. Eventually I'll be watching (and writing about) other shows, so if we can also avoid spoilers for Decade and Zi-O on up, I'd be super thankful. Again, no teases or nothing if you can avoid it. Try your best! Very sorry about this one, but you know all that stuff I just wrote about you not spoiling things for me? Well, ha ha, funny story: I will probably spoil things from shows I've already watched. I'm sorry! But I will. It'll only be if something in Kiva feels related to another series (I'd be shocked if I don't bring up a huge twist or two from Faiz), but just so you know: if you want to stay spoiler-free on Kuuga through Den-O and Double through Build, maybe give this one a wide berth. Sorry in advance! Everything I find valuable about these threads... it's not me getting to share my thoughts with you. It's you sharing your thoughts with me. Along those lines, I welcome any and all participation in this thread. Whatever you want to say about Kiva, good or bad, I want to hear it. Most of all, I want you to share your feelings about the show. What in an episode worked for you? Which characters are you most interested in? How do you feel about the story the show is telling? All of that stuff is super interesting to me. It's why I'm on these boards, you know? The chance to hear how these shows hit other fans, that's what I'm hoping to experience over the next couple months. If you've got something you want to discuss from these episodes, I'd be thrilled if you posted it here. Ready for Kiva? I think that's everything I wanted to cover before we get started. New episode posts will drop daily except for Tuesdays. We'll cover the two movies, the HBV, and some Net Movies as they came up chronologically on original release. (I've got Climax Deka after Episode 11, the Net Movies and Kiva Movie after Episode 27, and the HBV after Episode 30.) It should be a fun couple months, I hope. Let's make it fun, you guys. Let's have a blast with this Allegedly Vampire tokusatsu show. Let's watch Kamen Rider Kiva! (! I forgot the catchphrase! Sorry, everybody! Next thread, for sure.) https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/kiva/kiva00.png |
KAMEN RIDER KIVA EPISODE 01 - "FATE - WAKE UP!”
https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/kiva/kiva01a.png Ha ha ha, okay. Okay! The most fun I have with these Kamen Rider shows... it's probably the beginnings. That feeling of being thrown to the narrative wolves, of being tossed into the thematic deep end, I really love it. Everything is a WTF moment, and every scene feels like it comes from a completely different show than the scene that preceded it. Kiva's a show that is both densely packed with incident (it introduces a hundred named characters across two timelines and has about four hundred fight scenes), as well as one that I never felt overwhelmed by. There's a rhythm to the progression, which is maybe appropriate for a show that feels informed by music and performance. They keep throwing new information at you (or, data, at least), but there's a flow to the episode that makes it easy to not focus too much on the details that are clearly there for later exploration. (Like Kamen Rider Grease being Wataru's dad! That feels like it's going to be important! Wild guess! Also, holy shit, Zanki is in the credits!!!) It's smoothly constructed, which is what I'm most looking for in a premiere. Like, there's a lot of fun visual ways that information is conveyed, you know? The stained glass border when we head back to 1986. Those little diegetic nods that we've returned to 2008; the cracked walkway, the plates. There's a playfulness to how scenes are shot, where it's not showy or theatrical, exactly, but... whimsical? There're decorative vampire monsters and exsanguinated transparencies, but it's still an action-y superhero show that wants you to have a good time. One of the little touches I liked is how the late-night fight against the Horse Fangire feels extra Showa, since it's in 1986. It has a nighttime horror vibe, as opposed to the daytime Heisei fight later on. Also, if there's a Kiva active in 1986, I suppose I'd have to name him as my favorite Showa Kamen Rider. I will briefly truck with Showa, as long as Inoue's writing it. Hey! Speaking of Inoue! A whole bunch of weird callbacks in this episode to his past works, amongst other Kamen Rider things. There's the obvious Spider Fangire to kick off the show, sure. But there's also the Horse Fangire as the second monster, which feels like such an obvious Faiz reference that I'd be shocked if it wasn't intentional. The Horse Fangire being named Tsugami in '86, again, real obvious Agito nod, gotta be on purpose. The weirdest reference, though, was the use of Kitaoka's office for the photoshoot scenes. Ryuki wasn't an Inoue show, but Kitaoka featured heavily in one of the stories he guest-wrote, so maybe that's why we're in such a recognizable space that literally no other Kamen Rider has used in the past five-six years. And, like, thematically, such an Inoue show. Wataru's inability to express himself is, like, an Inoue hallmark. It's present in not just the literal sense, with his adorable notebook of apologies and cries for help, but in his need to use music as an emotional outlet. That's a thing that comes up in a lot of Inoue's writing, the value of self-expression through art, and it gets a little coverage in the first installment of Kiva despite tons of other ground to cover. Wataru's ambivalence about his own humanity marks him as another questing Inoue lead. He feels a separation from the world he's protecting, and at this point it's tough to see if he's longing for a connection or wishing for isolation. (I mean, almost definitely the former, but I like that there's some ambiguity here.) He's a sweetly sad boy, and that little scene where Kivat offers some role-play toy psychoanalysis in the bathtub (from a floating violin-shaped soap caddy!) is a nice window into a character who spends the whole episode being weird around three-dimensional women. And, shit, I don't know where these women are going to go in the narrative, but I love how they all kicked-off. Opening the series with Yuri throwing down with the Spider Fangire, hitting the midpoint with Megumi laughing at the gullibility of the Horse Fangire, and having Shizuka around to gently nudge Wataru away from being descended upon by angry villagers... just great, great characters. I loved each of the performances for their unique energies. Yuri is closed off, tentative, but intensely focused. Megumi is flippant, energetic, and never one to hold her tongue. Shizuka is perplexed, indignant, and loyal. With Wataru being a cypher for most of this episode (but an effective and charismatic one, somehow!), it leaves way more space for the various women of Kiva to make an impact, and they totally did for me. This whole episode did it for me. I loved the inexplicable debut aspects, the insanity of some of the world-building (Kiva's Rider Kick causes a lunar eclipse that makes a Dinosaur Cathedral eat the soul of a decorative vampire monster???), all of that premiere shit that you take for granted on subsequent viewings. But I also loved the cleanliness of the delivery, the way plots and details rhyme across decades (Yuri and Megumi's God Has Erred declaration, Megumi and Wataru's fish obsessions, Yuri and Wataru's weirdness around tiny animals), how this blenderized inaugural episode was fun and charming and... and weird, in all of the most engaging ways. I'm not quite at the point where I know what story Inoue's telling yet (The Perils Of A Life Unlived would be an early guess), but I like the way he's started to tell it. https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/kiva/kiva01b.png |
I think if I went back and rewatched Kiva, I'd probably find a lot more to like in Wataru. Of all the characters people like to criticise in this season, he stands out as one of the ones I liked -- his disposition is pretty similar to Ryotarou which could feel a bit repetitive, but heck; it's the second time in the entire franchise we've gotten a main character like this, so I'm not exactly unhappy about it. He's just very charming and earnest in a shy, restrained way that endears him to me. He's a good lad.
The other thing I liked about this episode is that the music's pretty nice |
Hey question, what happened to Inoue? Like it feels like he disappeared from the series after some early hesei phase 2 films. I know he came back for the Zi-o Ryuki special, but I’m unsure where else he’s been. Looks like he did some anime stuff, but also like he fell off the earth from 2010 to 2015 aside from a few films. Anyone know anything about that? Did Inoue have a falling out with the series?
Edit: also I should try to keep up, what subs are you using die? |
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I love that you like the show so far. I am a big fan of it, despite it's many flaws. The designs are fantastic, by and large, obviously Kiva is the best looking of all Kamen Riders, the music is great, I liked that the stories took place in two times, and the crazy stuff like the Wake Up finisher causing an eclipse is awesome.
I hope you enjoy the rest of the show. |
Man, this is unexpected. I haven’t even had time to pre-write my recurring thread for this season. But I’ll try to cope, since this is something I’ve been looking forward to you doing (Kiva is my number 1 Rider show).
So, without further ado, welcome to the edition of “Fact Fangire-le” for Kamen Rider Kiva episode 1: Fate: Wake Up. Spider Fangire True name: The Capriccio of the Paradise with Light (光ある楽園の綺想曲 Hikari Aru Rakuen no Kisōkyoku) Human identity: Ryo Itoya. Class: Insect Rank: Pawn Actor : Sohto (human form), Katsumi Shiono (grunts in Fangire form). Horse Fangire True name: The Sincerity and Melancholy that the Twin Impostors Dream About (双子のペテン師が夢見る、誠実と憂鬱 Futago no Petenshi ga Yume Miru, Seijitsu to Yūutsu) Human identity: Kaoru Tsugami Class: Beast Rank: Pawn Actor: Nobuo Kyo (You know him as the bad guy from the Amazons movie, I know him as the guy who, until recently, was my signature). And I’m happy you’re enjoying it so far. |
You want me to praise Kamen Rider Kiva? No, I can't see myself doing that! :lol
On a serious note, it felt to me like it was the last of a certain type of 2000s Kamen Rider show that I do miss whereas I wasn't a big fan of the direction the franchise ended up going in around that time, and Den-O was at least probably better than Decade, even if I did really hate Ryotaro even when compared to Wataru! When OOO came along though I felt like it was just what I needed at that time and some since then have been enjoyable enough so it's swings and roundabouts, but I did love so many songs from Kiva too, especially the movie theme and it is strange that no-one seems able to do a really good tribute or comeback Kiva thing. |
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If I could offer my speculation: I think he was just satisfied and left Rider on his own terms. Like for one thing the dude wrote a lot of stuff for Heisei phase 1; practically half of it all, as well as most the summer movies and The First/The Next. The only Phase 1 series he hadn't worked on at all was Den-O. In short I wouldn't blame the guy for feeling more than a little exhausted and wanting to do other stuff. But aside from that, and perhaps relevant to this series... from what I've heard he cites 555 and Kiva as his peak, his magnum opuses. These two seasons are basically the epitome of everything he wanted to do with Kamen Rider; these are the stories he wanted to do. So after both of them were fully out there with his having basically full creative control (he wrote every single episode and the summer movie of both seasons, aside from a single 2-parter in Kiva), I can easily see the guy feeling happy with it and moving on. Frankly everything he does after Decade aside from the 1/Ghost movie feels very tired and exhausted to me, like he's just going through the motions on commission rather than throwing out his crazy creative prowess like he did back in the day. Think the dude was just personally done with Kamen Rider after this season |
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